


Harmonie Fantôme

by Hitsugi_Zirkus



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Ghosts, Haunting, Piano
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-04
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-07-25 00:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16186433
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hitsugi_Zirkus/pseuds/Hitsugi_Zirkus
Summary: Whatever phantom decided to haunt that piano, it was apparently a perfectionist.And yet, with a deep breath, Mika poised his fingers over the keys, delicately tracing his fingertips over their glossy surface before his mismatched eyes glanced at the pages open before him.“Sorry if I offend ya, Ghost Mentor. I promise I’ll just be a sec.”





	Harmonie Fantôme

**Author's Note:**

> My first (published) Shumika and Shu isn't even mentioned by name. Nothing especially shippy happens so I didn't tag the fic as such. Nonetheless, Shu is in this fic and Mika definitely is head over heels about this perfectionist ghost.
> 
> This is a part of my October challenge of writing something once a day. 3 day streak! Yay!

There were rumors that the grand piano that rested at the corner of the theater’s stage was haunted. Absolutely nothing appeared to be wrong with it at a glance -- it was in what Mika considered to be a pristine condition, the hardwood sleek and beautifully black, the polished keys delicate and white. 

He’d wanted to touch the piano for some time, but the rumors certainly gave the instrument some more intrigue. Students claimed that their sheet music would get slapped to the floor, or that they’d feel someone tugging harshly on their clothes if they didn’t play correctly or slipped on a note. Whatever phantom decided to haunt that piano, it was apparently a perfectionist. A handful of students had even come by to investigate the ghostly pianist, purposefully slamming the keys down discordantly and cackling until the bench was pulled out right from under them and the lid to the keys snapped shut, inexplicably unable to open for the next few days. 

And yet, one late evening when he’d been about to leave school, Mika couldn’t help but slow his steps and glance towards the open door to the auditorium, as if it was an invitation to the curiosity that had been growing inside him. Not even hesitating for a moment -- scary things such as ghosts or demons never really frightened him, and his friend Arashi often teased him for his admittedly spooky interests -- Mika stepped inside.

Three golden spotlights illuminated the stage, and pushed right in the center was the offending piano. Once again, it felt too perfect, as if it had been waiting for Mika all this time. Of course, if it was truly haunted by a strict phantom, then it perhaps wanted nothing to do with Mika at all.

Stepping down the rows of empty red velvet chairs, Mika eventually reached the stage and hoisted himself up. 

The lid to the piano’s keys was open. When Mika tentatively stepped closer, he noticed sheet music neatly tucked onto the stand. Had a student left it behind? 

Glancing around but not noticing anything in particular out of place, Mika peered at the music. The notes weren’t printed like he thought it would. Instead, the staffs and the music were neatly drawn onto the paper. Directions had been penned beneath the staffs, written in neat cursive. The only thing the music appeared to lack was a title and composer.

_ Hmm _ .

Letting his backpack thump on the floor, Mika took a seat at the bench. He hadn’t had a chance to touch a piano in so long. He could never afford lessons, so everything he knew was self-taught. To say he was a pianist by any stretch of the imagination was probably laughable, but, well -- he  _ did  _ know how to sight-read at the very least. 

“Sorry if I offend ya, Ghost Mentor,” Mika muttered with a chagrined laugh. “I promise I’ll just be a sec.” With a deep breath, Mika poised his fingers over the keys, delicately tracing his fingertips over their glossy surface before his mismatched eyes glanced at the pages open before him. 

His pressed down on a key, the first note of the song ringing out loudly in the empty theater. Slowly, he played the next note. Then the next. Gaining confidence, he readied his right hand and let it begin the harmony. His playing was a little stilted, but the more he played, the more he could focus on the rise and fall of the melody. 

Wood creaked behind him, as if a weight had stepped onto the stage. A chill ran down Mika’s spine but he didn’t dare turn around. He focused even more on reading the sheet music, holding his breath like it would keep his fingers from freezing or slipping. 

Wood creaked again, and Mika could swear he felt a presence right beside him. 

Then, without warning, the keys on the other side _slammed_ indignantly down, their discordant  **_clang!_ ** ringing in Mika’s ears, making him jolt. He glanced at the keys, still pressed down even though he could see nothing that could possibly be weighing them down. 

Heart pounding, Mika collected himself with another deep breath and picked up where he left off in the music. He hadn’t even made it through the line before his fingers hit the wrong note and in response, the same keys on the other side of the board rang out in tuneless frustration. 

“Sorry!” Mika yelped, immediately backtracking to correct his mistake. Any second now, he expected the lid to come crashing down on his fingers, or for the bench to be pulled out from under him like with the other students.

And yet… The phantom allowed him to continue. Mika wondered if it had already disappeared. The melody continued to play out under his hands, and soon he was reaching the end of the page. 

The sheet fluttered, then slowly, delicately turned. Mika let out a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding. 

The staffs were arranged differently here. Marked neatly off to the side was  _ piano 1 _ and  _ piano 2 _ . Mika blinked in surprise.

The keys beside him began to dance, their sound joining Mika’s. Instead of playing in anger and disapproval though, the notes pouring out melted bittersweetly together with Mika’s harmonizing instead of fighting him. A small, disbelieving smile drew on Mika’s lips, and it only grew wider the longer the song went on, the power and haunting beauty of their shared melody echoing into the shadows. Their almost melancholic waltz cradled Mika with a strange sense of peace. 

All-too-soon, the notes discontinued, the keys playing out into a cadence that Mika’s heart reached longingly after. 

When Mika looked next to him, he wasn’t alone. A boy sat there, his form blurry and translucent, and yet even that could not prevent Mika from taking in the beauty of a fair complexion and amethyst eyes that were faintly shadowed beside him. Those eyes glanced at Mika, and a curious mix of hot and cold flood through his body when the ghost’s hand brushed against his still resting on the piano’s keys.

“ _ Play it again, _ ” the boy said. 

Even without those bewitching eyes and voice, Mika didn’t need telling twice. 

From then on, a new rumor flooded through the school -- that some nights, you could hear the playing of a four-handed duet echoing in the halls.


End file.
